Vertical section through the articulations at the wrist, showing the synovial cavities.
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In tetrapods, the carpus is the cluster of bones in the hand between the radius and ulna and the metacarpus. The bones of the carpus do not belong to individual fingers, whereas those of the metacarpus do. The joint between the radius and ulna and the carpus is called the wrist. The corresponding part of the foot is the tarsus.
The carpal bones have evolved differently in different animals (for example in some macropods, the scaphoid and lunar bones are fused into the scapholunar bone)[link].
The skeleton of the hand [Figs. 1, 2] is subdivided into three segments:
Each bone (excepting the pisiform) presents six surfaces.
Of these the palmar or anterior and the dorsal or posterior surfaces are rough, for ligamentous attachment; the dorsal surfaces being the broader, except in the navicular and lunate.
The superior or proximal, and inferior or distal surfaces are articular, the superior generally convex, the inferior concave; the medial and lateral surfaces are also articular where they are in contact with contiguous bones, otherwise they are rough and tuberculated.
